Liberating Structures

Our favorite Liberating Structures to ensure full participation during Large (or small) Group Meetings:

NINE WHYS

Make the Purpose of Your Work Together Clear (20 min.)

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What is made possible? With breathtaking simplicity, you can rapidly clarify for individuals and a group what is essentially important in their work. You can quickly reveal when a compelling purpose is missing in a gathering and avoid moving forward without clarity. When a group discovers an unambiguous shared purpose, more freedom and more responsibility are unleashed. You have laid the foundation for spreading and scaling innovations with fidelity.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

Structuring Invitation

Ask, “What do you do when working on ______ (the subject matter or challenge at hand)? Please make a short list of activities.” Then ask, “Why is that important to you?” Keep asking, “Why? Why? Why?” up to nine times or until participants can go no deeper because they have reached the fundamental purpose for this work.

How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Unlimited number of groups

Chairs for people to sit comfortably face-to-face; no tables or equipment needed.

How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone has an equal opportunity to participate and contribute

How Groups Are Configured

First pairs, then groups of four, then the whole group (2-4-All)

Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Each person in a pair is interviewed by his or her partner for 5 minutes. Starting with “What do you do when working on ____?” the interviewer gently seeks a deeper answer by repeating the query: “Why is that important to you?” Switch roles after 5 minutes. 10 min.

Each pair shares the experience and insights with another pair in a foursome. 5 min.

Invite the whole group to reflect by asking, “How do our purposes influence the next steps we take?” 5 min.

He who has a “why” can endure any “how.” Friedrich Nietzsche

WHY? Purposes

Discover what is truly important for the group members

Lay the groundwork for the design that will be employed

Ignite organizational momentum through the stories that emerge

Generating a small number of clear answers can help you move forward together with more velocity

Provide a basis for progressive evaluation

Generate criteria for deciding who will be included

Tips and Traps

Create a safe and welcoming space; avoid judgments

Have fun with it: you can invite participants “to channel their inner toddler” while they ask why repeatedly

Keep going! Dig deep with compassion. Vary the ways of asking “why?” For example, ask, “If last night, while you slept, your dream came true, what would be different?”

Make sure the question asked is, “Why is it important to YOU?” (meaning not THE amorphous organization or system but you personally)

Share the variety of responses and reflect on differences among group members. What common purpose emerges?

If someone gets stuck ask, “Does a story come to mind?”

Maintain confidentiality when very personal stories are shared

Make clarifying purpose with Nine Whys a routine practice in your group

Riffs and Variations

Combine a short Appreciative Interview with Nine Whys. Start with the interview, then ask: “why is the success story you have shared important to you? Why, Why, Why?”

Ask the small groups whether “a fundamental justification for committing time and money to the work” emerged in the conversation. A clear personal purpose plus a community justification can quickly fuel the spread of an initiative. Work toward a single sentence that powerfully justifies the group’s work to others: “We exist to…! or We exist to stop…!”

In a business context, ask, “Why would people spend their money with you? Why would leaders want you to operate your business in their country?”

Add 10 how questions after you have clarity around why (it becomes MUCH easier).

A good purpose is never closed. Make it dynamically imcomplete by inviting everyone to make contributions and mutually shape understanding of the deepest need for your work.

Record answers on Post-it notes, number them, and stick on a flip chart. You can arrange the answers in a triangle: broad answers on the top and detailed answers on the bottom. Compare and debrief.

Ask, “Why is that important to your community?” “Why? Why? Why?…”

Use the chat function during a webinar to start formulating a purpose statement: participants reflect on the Nine Whys questions, sharing their ideas in the chat box.

Link to Purpose-To-Practice; Generative Relationships; Wise Crowds; What, So What, Now What? and many other Liberating Structures.

Examples

For crafting a compelling shared purpose to launch a collaborative research organization. The Quality Commons, a health-service research network composed of representatives from seven health systems across the United States, used Nine Whys as one step in the Purpose-To-Practice Liberating Structure.

For the beginning of any coaching session, including Troika Consulting or Wise Crowds.

For clarifying the purpose behind the launch of a new product.

For anchoring each element of a Design Storyboard by asking, “Why is this activity or element important to you? What does it add to the flow of exchanges among participants?”

For you as an individual to clarify your personal purpose

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

WISE CROWDS

Wise Crowds

Tap the Wisdom of the Whole Group in Rapid Cycles (15 min. per person)

Every journey has a secret destination of which the traveler is not aware. – Martin Buber

What is made possible? Wise Crowds make it possible to instantly engage a small or large group of people in helping one another. You can set up a Wise Crowds consultation with one small group of four or five people or with many small groups simultaneously or, during a larger gathering, with a group as big as one hundred or more people. Individuals, referred to as “clients,” can ask for help and get it in a short time from all the other group members. Each individual consultation taps the expertise and inventiveness of everyone in the group simultaneously. Individuals gain more clarity and increase their capacity for self-correction and self-understanding. Wise Crowds develop people’s ability to ask for help. They deepen inquiry and consulting skills. Supportive relationships form very quickly. During a Wise Crowds session, the series of individual consultations makes the learning cumulative as each participant benefits not only from being a client but also from being a consultant several times in a row. Wise Crowds consultations make it easy to achieve transparency. Together, a group can outperform the expert!

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs for Small Wise Crowds

1. Structuring Invitation

Ask each participant when his or her turn comes to be the “client” to briefly describe his or her challenge and ask others for help.

Ask the other participants to act as a group of “consultants” whose task it is to help the “client” clarify his or her challenge and to offer advice or recommendations.

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Groups of 4 or 5 chairs arranged around small tables or in circles without tables

Paper for participants to take notes

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone is included

Everyone has an equal amount of time to ask for and get help

Everyone has an equal opportunity to offer help

4. How Groups Are Configured

Groups of 4 to 5 people

Mixed groups across functions, levels, and disciplines are ideal

The person asking for help, the “client,” turns his or her back on the consultants after the consultation question has been clarified.

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Each person requesting a consult (the client) gets fifteen minutes broken down as follows:

The client presents the challenge and request for help. 2 min.

The consultants ask the client clarifying questions. 3 min.

The client turns his or her back to the consultants and gets ready to take notes

The consultants ask questions and offer advice, and recommendations, working as a team, while the client has his or her back turned. 8 min.

The client provides feedback to the consultants: what was useful and what he or she takes away. 2 min.

WHY? Purposes

Generate results that are enduring because each individual and the group produced them together without “outside expertise”

Refine skills in giving, receiving, and asking for help

Tap the intelligence of a whole group without time-consuming up and sideways presentations

Liberate the wisdom and creativity that exists across disciplines and functional silos

Replace boring briefings and updates with an effective and useful alternative

Actively build trust through mutual support and peer connections

Practice listening without defending

Tips and Traps

Invite a very diverse crowd to help (not only the experts and leaders)

Invite participants to critique themselves when they fall into traps (e.g., jumping to action before clarifying the purpose or the problem). See Helping Heuristics for a complete list of unwanted patterns when helping or asking for help.

Remind participants to try to stay focused on the client’s direct experience by asking, “What is happening here? How are you experiencing what is happening?”

Advise the consultants to take risks while maintaining empathy

Avoid having some participants choosing not to be clients: everybody has at least one challenge!

If the first round is weak, try a second round

Invite participants not to shy away from presenting complex challenges without easy answers

Riffs and Variations

Restrict the consulting to asking only honest, open questions, focusing on helping the client gain personal clarity. In other words, forbid recommendations and advice (thinly veiled as a question) or any speeches whatsoever! This is also called Q-Storming and is similar to a Quaker Clearness Committee.

Can be used with groups of up to 7 people but not more.

The “large format” of Wise Crowds makes it possible for one person to ask a whole room for help. See the detailed description of the five structural elements/min specs below.

Use Wise Crowds with virtual groups by using the chat function to share answers from a small number of consultants, then opening the chat line and whiteboard to the whole group for additional feedback

Link to and string with Helping Heuristics plus Heard, Seen, Respected (HSR), Nine Whys, Troika Consulting, What I Need From You, and Appreciative Interviews. These Liberating Structures offer a variety of productive choices for helping.

Wise Crowds for Large Groups (1 hr.)

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs for Large Groups

1. Structuring Invitation

Ask the participant who is the “client” to describe his or her challenge, the status of any work in progress, and the advice or help he or she is looking for

Ask the other participants to act as a group of “consulting teams” whose task it is to help the “client” clarify his or her challenge and to offer advice or recommendations.

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

One chair for the client in the front of the room

Screen and projector only if absolutely indispensable

Three chairs for the primary consultants in the front of the room

Groups of 5–8 chairs arranged around small tables, or in circles without tables, for all the satellite consulting teams

Paper for participants to take notes

Index cards at each table to write recommendations

Microphones for the client and primary consultants

3. How Participation Is Distributed

The client has a specific amount of time to present and ask for help

The primary consulting team has a fixed amount of time to offer help

Everyone else on each consulting team has an equal opportunity to contribute help during the balance of the time, which is also fixed

4. How Groups Are Configured

Individual client

One group of 2 to 3 primary consultants

Any number of satellite groups of 5 to 7 people as consulting teams

Mixed groups across functions, levels, and disciplines are ideal

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Each person requesting a consult (the client) gets one hour broken down as follows:

The client presents his or her consulting question and selects the 2-4 individuals who will form the primary consulting team. The primary consultants move and occupy their chairs in the front of the room. 2 min.

The client presents the challenge and request for help. 10 min.

The primary consultants pose clarifying questions to the client, using microphones so that all participants can hear them. 10 min.

The client turns his or her back to the primary consultants and gets ready to take notes.

The primary consultants jointly form advice and recommendations, working as a team while the client has his or her back turned. Microphones are used so that all others in the room can follow their discussion. 7 min.

Every satellite consulting team separately critiques the work of the primary consulting team and generates its own recommendations for the client. 10 min.

While the satellite teams work, the client turns around and uses this ten-minute period to discuss with the primary consulting team.

Do one round to gather the critiques from the satellite teams first and then a second round to gather their recommendations. Gather only one comment or recommendation per team, with no repeats. It may be useful to ask the satellite teams to write their recommendations for the client on 3-by-5-inch index cards. 10 min.

The client provides feedback to the consultants: what was useful and what he or she takes away. 2 min.

Invite a full-group conversation reflecting on the process, so what, and now what. 5 min.

NOTE: The timing for each step can be adjusted depending on the complexity of the problem and the size of the group, but it is essential to stick strictly to the schedule and not let discussions drag beyond the time set. It is always better to have a second round instead.

Examples

For multisite research/learning groups to support and learn from each other

For professionals in a national fellowship program to share progress and get help with the action learning projects

To replace progress presentations and reviews

For managers trying to solve problems associated with a merger

For foundation grantees trying to scale up their socio-tech innovations

For getting advice on improving a relationship with one other person

For salespeople (distributed over a large geography) getting help with developing and keeping new customers

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

TRIZ

Making Space with TRIZ

Stop Counterproductive Activities and Behaviors to Make Space for Innovation (35 min.)

Every act of creation is first an act of destruction. – Pablo Picasso
What is made possible? You can clear space for innovation by helping a group let go of what it knows (but rarely admits) limits its success and by inviting creative destruction. TRIZ makes it possible to challenge sacred cows safely and encourages heretical thinking. The question “What must we stop doing to make progress on our deepest purpose?” induces seriously fun yet very courageous conversations. Since laughter often erupts, issues that are otherwise taboo get a chance to be aired and confronted. With creative destruction come opportunities for renewal as local action and innovation rush in to fill the vacuum. Whoosh!

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

Structuring Invitation

In this three-step process, ask:

“Make a list of all you can do to make sure that you achieve the worst result imaginable with respect to your top strategy or objective.”

“Go down this list item by item and ask yourselves, ‘Is there anything that we are currently doing that in any way, shape, or form resembles this item?’ Be brutally honest to make a second list of all your counterproductive activities/programs/procedures.”

“Go through the items on your second list and decide what first steps will help you stop what you know creates undesirable results?”

How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Unlimited number of small groups of 4 to 7 chairs, with or without small tables

Paper for participants to record

How Participation Is Distributed

Everybody involved in the work is included

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

How Groups Are Configured

Groups with 4 to 7 participants

Established teams or mixed groups

Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

After introduction, three segments, 10 minutes for each segment

Introduce the idea of TRIZ and identify an unwanted result. If needed, have the groups brainstorm and pick the most unwanted result. 5 min.

Each group uses 1-2-4-All to make a first list of all it can do to make sure that it achieves this most unwanted result. 10 min.

Each group uses 1-2-4-All to make a second list of all that it is currently doing that resembles items on their first list. 10 min.

Each group uses 1-2-4-All to determine for each item on its second list what first steps will help it stop this unwanted activity/program/procedure. 10 min.

WHY? Purposes

Make it possible to speak the unspeakable and get skeletons out of the closet

Make space for innovation

Lay the ground for creative destruction by doing the hard work in a fun way

TRIZ may be used before or in place of visioning sessions

Tips and Traps

Enter into TRIZ with a spirit of serious fun

Don’t accept ideas for doing something new or additional: be sure suggestions are about stopping activities or behaviors, not about starting new things. It is worth the wait.

Begin with a VERY unwanted result, quickly confirm your suggestion with the group

Check in with groups that are laughing hard or look confused

Take time for groups to identify similarities to what they are doing now and explore how this is harmful

Include the people that will be involved in stopping the activities that come out and ask, “Who else needs to be included?”

Make real decisions about what will be stopped (number your decisions 1,2,3…) in the form of “I will stop” and “we will stop.”

Riffs and Variations

Go deeper with a second or third round to refine or deepen understanding of unwanted results.

For helping institutional leaders notice how it is they inadvertently exclude diverse voices: “How can we devise policies and practices that only work for a select few?”

For IT professionals: “How can we make sure we build an IT system that no one will want to use?”

For leadership groups: “How can we make sure we keep doing the same things with the same people while asking for different results?”

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS

Celebrity Interview

Reconnect the Experience of Leaders and Experts with People Closest to the Challenge at Hand (35-60 min.)

What is made possible? You can enable a large group of people to connect with a leader or an expert (the celebrity) as a person and grasp the nuances of how that person is approaching a challenge. With a well-designed interview, you can turn what would otherwise be a passive, often boring presentation into a personal narrative that is entertaining, imparts valuable knowledge, and reveals the full range of rational, emotional, and ethical/moral dynamics at play. You can often turn the interview into an invitation to action, drawing out all the elements needed to spark the participant group’s imagination and encourage cohesive action.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite the celebrity to let go of his or her formal presentation or speech and answer the harder questions on everyone’s mind in a casual “talk show” format

Invite group members to listen, see the person behind the celebrity, and write down questions with colleagues

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Interviewer and celebrity in the front of the room where everyone can see and hear the interaction (lapel microphones, bar stools, or living-room furniture recommended)

Unlimited number of people in a space where they can sit to view the interview and later form small groups (theater-style seating is OK)

3-by-5-inch cards to collect questions generated via 1-2-4

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Part one, interview: everyone has an equal opportunity to listen

Part two, questions: everyone has an equal opportunity to engage with one another to formulate questions

4. How Groups Are Configured

Whole group for interview

Individuals, pairs, small groups for 1-2-4 to generate questions

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Interviewer welcomes and introduces the celebrity and topic to be discussed. 3 min.

Interviewer asks questions that the audience would be expected to ask (both humor and gravity are appropriate). 15–30 min.

Invite participants to generate additional questions in a 1-2-4 conversation and then on 3-by-5-inch cards. 5–10 min.

Interviewer sifts the cards, looking for patterns and asking additional questions to the celebrity. 5–10 min.

Interviewer makes closing comments, thanks the celebrity. 1 min.

WHY? Purposes

Create or boost a connection between an expert or leader and an audience

Give substance and depth to a topic

Avoid boring lectures and PowerPoint presentations

Engage every individual in generating questions for further exploration

Shed light on the person behind the position or expertise

Bring big concepts to life with stories that come out in the interview

Tips and Traps

A good sequence of starting questions is: What first inspired you in this work? What challenges you in this work? What keeps you going in this work? What do you hope can happen for us in this work?

Give the questions to the celebrity in advance

If possible, send background materials to participants in advance

Do not allow the introduction to become a minilecture

Interview questions should not be trivial or easy to answer

Interviewer must ask repeatedly for stories and concrete details that illustrate concepts

Interviewer may ask the celebrity, “Why is _____ important to YOU (not the larger organization or system)?”

Riffs and Variations

The interviewer can conduct research in advance of the session, asking participants, “What do you want to know but would not dare to ask? What is the most important thing you want to know about this person or the work ahead?”

Use a storytelling template to structure your interview (e.g., the Hero’s Journey).

For strategy sessions, dig deeper into challenges by asking: What is happening around us that demands creative adaptation? What happens if we do nothing? Given our purpose, what seems possible now? If our current strategies were obliterated last night, what parts would you bring back today?

Use with virtual groups. Conduct the voice/video interview while inviting all other participants to develop questions and comments in pairs or groups. Share the top questions via the chat function to “all” when the interview is complete.

String together with User Experience Fishbowl, Open Space, DAD, and What I Need From You

Examples

For a leader or leaders to help launch a new initiative

To welcome and get to know a new leader coming into the organization

To personalize and deepen the contributions of an expert

For debriefing the experience of a few participants in an important event

As an alternative to a case-study presentation: the interviewer helps to revive the story and the local context underneath the analysis

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

TROIKA CONSULTING

Troika Consulting

Get Practical and Imaginative Help from Colleagues Immediately (30 min.)

To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, welcome, to accept. – Henri Nouwen

What is made possible? You can help people gain insight on issues they face and unleash local wisdom for addressing them. In quick round-robin “consultations,” individuals ask for help and get advice immediately from two others. Peer-to-peer coaching helps with discovering everyday solutions, revealing patterns, and refining prototypes. This is a simple and effective way to extend coaching support for individuals beyond formal reporting relationships. Troika Consulting is always there for the asking for any individual who wishes to get help from colleagues or friends.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite the group to explore the questions “What is your challenge?” and “What kind of help do you need?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Any number of small groups of 3 chairs, knee-to-knee seating preferred. No table!

3. How Participation Is Distributed

In each round, one participant is the “client,” the others “consultants”

Everyone has an equal opportunity to receive and give coaching

4. How Groups Are Configured

Groups of 3

People with diverse backgrounds and perspectives are most helpful

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Invite participants to reflect on the consulting question (the challenge and the help needed) they plan to ask when they are the clients. 1 min.

Client turns around and shares what was most valuable about the experience. 1-2 min.

Groups switch to next person and repeat steps.

WHY? Purposes

Refine skills in asking for help

Learn to formulate problems and challenges clearly

Refine listening and consulting skills

Develop ability to work across disciplines and functional silos

Build trust within a group through mutual support

Build capacity to self-organize

Create conditions for unimagined solutions to emerge

Tips and Traps

Invite participants to form groups with mixed roles/functions

Suggest that participants critique themselves when they fall into traps (e.g., like jumping to conclusions)

Have the participants try to notice the pattern of support offered. The ideal is to respectfully provoke by telling the client “what you see that you think they do not see”

Tell participants to take risks while maintaining empathy

If the first round yields coaching that is not good enough, do a second round

Beware that two rounds of 10 minutes per client is more effective than one round of 20 minutes per client.

Keep the spaces safe: if you share anything, do it judiciously

Questions that spark self-understanding or self-correction may be more powerful than advice about what to do

Tell clients to try and stay focused on self-reflection by asking, “What is happening here? How am I experiencing what is happening?”

Make Troika Consulting routine in meetings and conference

Riffs and Variations

Meld with 15% Solutions: each client shares a 15% Solution, asking for coaching

Inviting the client to turn around and sit facing away from his or her consultants once the question has been shared and clarified deepens curiosity, listening, empathy, and risk taking for all. The alternative of not turning around is an option.

Restrict the coaching to generating only questions to clarify the challenge: no advice giving (aka Q-Storming)

Examples

After a presentation, for giving participants time to formulate and sift next steps

For students to help one another and to promote peer-to-peer learning

In the midst of conferences and large-group meetings

As a self-initiated practice within a group

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

SOCIAL NETWORK WEBBING

Social Network Webbing

Map Informal Connections and Decide How to Strengthen the Network to Achieve a Purpose (60 min.)

Nothing evolves or survives on its own. Life co-evolves through relationships and networks … assembled from the bottom up following simple rules of organization and communication. – Kevin Kelly

What is made possible?

Social Network Webbing quickly illuminates for a whole group what resources are hidden within their existing network of relationships and what steps to take for tapping those resources. It also makes it easy to identify opportunities for building stronger connections as well as new ones. The inclusive approach makes the network visible and understandable to everybody in the group simultaneously. It encourages individuals to take the initiative for building a stronger network rather than receiving directions through top-down assignments. Informal or loose connections—even your friends’ friends—are tapped in a way that can have a powerful influence on progress without detailed planning and big investments.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite the members of a core working group with a shared purpose to create a map of their network and to decide how to expand and strengthen it

Ask them to name the people they are currently working with and those they would like to include in the future (i.e., people with influence or expertise they need to achieve their purpose)

Invite them to “weave” connections in the network web to advance their purpose

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

A long open wall with a tapestry paper or multiple flip-chart pages

2-by-2-inch Post-it notes in at least 8 colors

Bold-tip black pens (e.g., Sharpies)

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone involved in the core working or planning group is included

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

1-2-4-All to generate the names of all the key groups

Everyone together to generate the names of people in the network and construct the map

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Create a legend of all the key groups in the network needed to achieve your purpose and assign a Post-it color or symbol for each. 5 min.

Every core group member prints clearly his or her name on a Post-it. Put the Post-its in a group in the center of the wall. 5 min.

Ask all core group members, “What people do you know that are active in this work?” Tell them to create a Post-it with each of their names. Ask them to arrange the Post-its based on each person’s degrees of separation from each design group member. 10 min.

Ask all core group members, “Who else would you like to include in this work?” Invite them to brainstorm and create Post-its for the other people they would like to include. Ask them to build the map of Post-its as a web with a core and periphery structure (mimicking the actual and desired spread of participation). Individuals is this group may your your friends’ friends. New legend categories and colors may be needed as the webbing expands. 10 min.

Tell the core group to step back and ask, “Who knows whom? Who has influence and expertise? Who can block progress? Who can boost progress?” Ask them to illustrate the answers with connecting lines. 15 min.

Ask the group to devise strategies to: 1) invite, attract, and “weave” new people into their work; 2) work around blockages; and 3) boost progress. 10 min.

WHY? Purposes

Tap the informal connections that have indirect yet powerful influence on behavior and results

Disseminate knowledge and innovation across scales and through boundaries—within and beyond the organization

Develop more frontline ownership and leadership for change

Help people see connections and “black holes”

Help people self-organize and develop groups that are more resilient and able to absorb disruptions

Tip the balance toward positive change

Operate without big budgets and extensive planning by tapping the informal social networks and inviting people to contribute.

Tips and Traps

Ask the core group to focus on developing a core group that gets things done and a diverse periphery that adds new ideas and growth. The periphery is often in your Friends’ Friends network and they may be very helpful.

Encourage members to dream BIG when considering whom they want to include in the future

Do not include more than 10 functions or distinct groups in the legend: it gets too confusing!

1-2-4 ALL

1-2-4-All

What is made possible? You can immediately include everyone regardless of how large the group is. You can generate better ideas and more of them faster than ever before. You can tap the know-how and imagination that is distributed widely in places not known in advance. Open, generative conversation unfolds. Ideas and solutions are sifted in rapid fashion. Most importantly, participants own the ideas, so follow-up and implementation is simplified. No buy-in strategies needed! Simple and elegant!

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Ask a question in response to the presentation of an issue, or about a problem to resolve or a proposal put forward (e.g., What opportunities do YOU see for making progress on this challenge? How would you handle this situation? What ideas or actions do you recommend?)

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Unlimited number of groups

Space for participants to work face-to-face in pairs and foursomes

Chairs and tables optional

Paper for participants to record observations and insights

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone in the group is included (often not the facilitator)

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

Start alone, then in pairs, then foursomes, and finally as a whole group

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Silent self-reflection by individuals on a shared challenge, framed as a question (e.g., What opportunities do YOU see for making progress on this challenge? How would you handle this situation? What ideas or actions do you recommend?) 1 min.

Generate ideas in pairs, building on ideas from self-reflection. 2 min.

Riffs and Variations

Go from groups of 4 to groups of 8 with consensus in mind. Colleague Liz Rykert calls this Octopus!

Examples

Use after a speech or presentation, when it is important to get rich feedback (questions, comments, and ideas), instead of asking the audience, “Any questions?”

A group of managers used two rounds of 1-2-4-All to redesign their less-than-stimulating weekly meeting.

For a spontaneous conversation that starts after the topic of a meeting has been announced

For a group that has been convened to address a problem or an innovation opportunity

For unlocking a discussion that has become dysfunctional or stuck

In place of a leader “telling” people what to think and do (often unintentionally)

For a group that tends to be excessively influenced by its leader

Read Craig Yeatman’s story in Part Three: Stories from the Field about using 1-2-4-All to help manage a merger decision, “Inclusive High-Stakes Decision Making Made Easy.”

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless

CONVERSATION CAFE

Conversation Café

Engage Everyone in Making Sense of Profound Challenges (35-60 min.)

What is made possible? You can include and engage any number of people in making sense of confusing or shocking events and laying the ground for new strategies to emerge. The format of the Conversation Café helps people have calm and profound conversations in which there is less debating and arguing, and more listening. Sitting in a circle with a simple set of agreements and a talking object, small groups will engage in rounds of dialogue with little or no unproductive conflict. As the meaning of their challenge pops into focus, a consensual hunch is formed that will release their capacity for new action.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Unlimited number of 5 to 7 chairs around small tables

Markers and one or two pieces of flip-chart paper per table optional

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone is included

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

Mixed, diverse groups of 5–7 participants

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

State the theme of the conversation, usually in the form of a question

Distribute the talking objects

WHY? Purposes

Make sense of a complex, difficult, or painful situation and lay the ground for being able to move on

Generate new ideas and momentum for innovation

Build shared understanding of how people develop different perspectives and ideas

Avoid arguments based on lack of understanding

Build trust and reduce fear with an opportunity for catharsis

Help participants appreciate that conversation involves talking and listening

Tips and Traps

Always use the talking object: they make the difference

Have the host or participants reread the six agreements before starting the first round

Do not assign tasks: there should be no intention that the dialogue will directly lead to action

Host the dialogue like a dinner party, encouraging everyone to contribute while keeping the conversation open-ended and spontaneous

Use Wicked Questions to deepen conversation

If there is a problem, ask, “Are we following our agreements?”

Encourage people to speak their mind

Encourage quiet people to talk

Select talking objects that may have symbolic meaning for participants

Encourage participants to draw or record insights on the flip-chart “tablecloth”

Learn more from Vicki Robin and friends, who created the Conversation Café for use in communities @ www.conversationcafe.org

WICKED QUESTIONS

Wicked Questions

Articulate the Paradoxical Challenges That a Group Must Confront to Succeed (25 min.)

What is made possible? You can spark innovative action while diminishing “yes, but…” and “either-or” thinking. Wicked Questions engage everyone in sharper strategic thinking by revealing entangled challenges and possibilities that are not intuitively obvious. They bring to light paradoxical-yet-complementary forces that are constantly influencing behaviors and that are particularly important during change efforts. Wicked Questions make it possible to expose safely the tension between espoused strategies and on-the-ground circumstances and to discover the valuable strategies that lie deeply hidden in paradoxical waters.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Ask, “What opposing-yet-complementary strategies do we need to pursue simultaneously in order to be successful?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Groups of 4 to 6 chairs with or without small round tables

Paper for recording

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone involved in the work or topic is included

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

Individually

Small groups (6 people or smaller)

Whole group

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Introduce the concept of Wicked Questions and paradox. Illustrate with a couple of examples of Wicked Questions. Give the following template, “How is it that we are … and we are … simultaneously?” as the sentence to complete by inserting the two opposite strategies that are at play. 5 min.

First alone then in small groups, each participant generates pairs of opposites or paradoxes at play in his or her work using the Wicked Question format. 5 min.

Each group selects its most impactful and wicked Wicked Question. All selected Wicked Questions are shared with the whole group. 5 min.

Whole group picks out the most powerful ones and further refines the Wicked Questions. 10 min.

WHY? Purposes

Describe the messy reality of the situation while engaging collective imagination

Develop innovative strategies to move forward

Avoid wild or “bipolar” swings in policy and action

Evaluate decisions: Are we advancing one side or the other or attending to both?

Ignite creative tension, promoting more freedom and accountability as the discovery process unfold

Tips and Traps

Make sure that participants express both sides of the paradox in an appreciative form: “How is it that we are ____ and we are ____ simultaneously?” and not in opposition of each other

Use a variety of examples to make the paradoxical attributes accessible

Work in quick cycles, failing forward as you make the questions perfectly wicked

Avoid nasty questions that appoint blame or are unbalanced on one side. Here is an example of a nasty question: “How can we focus on our customers when we are forced to spend more and more time on the headquarters’ bureaucracy?”

Avoid data questions that can be answered with more analysis

Invite participants to include others in making their questions more wicked

Draw on field experience; ask, “When have you noticed these two things to be true at the same time?”

There are no quick fixes to Wicked Questions and you may need to return to the challenge periodically with additional rounds of Wicked Questions

Often a handful of people are very skilled at generating Wicked Questions: let them shine and inspire the rest of the group!

Riffs and Variations

When you have a strong Wicked Question, don’t stop there! Follow with 15% Solutions and 1-2-4-All to generate and sift ideas. Making progress on any one Wicked Question can shift what is possible.

Learn more from Brenda Zimmerman in Edgeware and Scott Kelso (see The Complementary Nature)

Examples

For parenting advice: “How is it that you are raising your children to be very loyal/attached to the family and very independent individuals simultaneously?”

For helping leaders discover how to include everyone in stopping infections: “As infection-control leaders, how is that you have stepped up and stepped back to help a unit take more ownership of prevention practices?”

For managing large global operations: “How is that we are always and never the same… an organization with a singular global identity and we are uniquely adapted to each local setting? How is it that we are integrated and autonomous?”

For a functional department, such as HR, finance, legal, etc., to bring to light the Wicked Questions that capture the essence of the function in the context of the department’s organization

For surfacing personal Wicked Questions, for instance, with respect to one’s relationship to one other person or in connection to a personal challenge. For instance, “How is it that I am simultaneously dedicated to my work and being fully present for my family?”

MIN SPECS

Min Specs

Reconnect the Experience of Leaders and Experts with People Closest to the Challenge at Hand (35-60 min.)

What is made possible? You can enable a large group of people to connect with a leader or an expert (the celebrity) as a person and grasp the nuances of how that person is approaching a challenge. With a well-designed interview, you can turn what would otherwise be a passive, often boring presentation into a personal narrative that is entertaining, imparts valuable knowledge, and reveals the full range of rational, emotional, and ethical/moral dynamics at play. You can often turn the interview into an invitation to action, drawing out all the elements needed to spark the participant group’s imagination and encourage cohesive action.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite the celebrity to let go of his or her formal presentation or speech and answer the harder questions on everyone’s mind in a casual “talk show” format

Invite group members to listen, see the person behind the celebrity, and write down questions with colleagues

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Interviewer and celebrity in the front of the room where everyone can see and hear the interaction (lapel microphones, bar stools, or living-room furniture recommended)

Unlimited number of people in a space where they can sit to view the interview and later form small groups (theater-style seating is OK)

3-by-5-inch cards to collect questions generated via 1-2-4

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Part one, interview: everyone has an equal opportunity to listen

Part two, questions: everyone has an equal opportunity to engage with one another to formulate questions

4. How Groups Are Configured

Whole group for interview

Individuals, pairs, small groups for 1-2-4 to generate questions

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Interviewer welcomes and introduces the celebrity and topic to be discussed. 3 min.

Interviewer asks questions that the audience would be expected to ask (both humor and gravity are appropriate). 15–30 min.

Invite participants to generate additional questions in a 1-2-4 conversation and then on 3-by-5-inch cards. 5–10 min.

Interviewer sifts the cards, looking for patterns and asking additional questions to the celebrity. 5–10 min.

Interviewer makes closing comments, thanks the celebrity. 1 min.

WHY? Purposes

Create or boost a connection between an expert or leader and an audience

Give substance and depth to a topic

Avoid boring lectures and PowerPoint presentations

Engage every individual in generating questions for further exploration

Shed light on the person behind the position or expertise

Bring big concepts to life with stories that come out in the interview

Tips and Traps

A good sequence of starting questions is: What first inspired you in this work? What challenges you in this work? What keeps you going in this work? What do you hope can happen for us in this work?

Give the questions to the celebrity in advance

If possible, send background materials to participants in advance

Do not allow the introduction to become a minilecture

Interview questions should not be trivial or easy to answer

Interviewer must ask repeatedly for stories and concrete details that illustrate concepts

Interviewer may ask the celebrity, “Why is _____ important to YOU (not the larger organization or system)?”

Riffs and Variations

The interviewer can conduct research in advance of the session, asking participants, “What do you want to know but would not dare to ask? What is the most important thing you want to know about this person or the work ahead?”

Use a storytelling template to structure your interview (e.g., the Hero’s Journey).

For strategy sessions, dig deeper into challenges by asking: What is happening around us that demands creative adaptation? What happens if we do nothing? Given our purpose, what seems possible now? If our current strategies were obliterated last night, what parts would you bring back today?

Use with virtual groups. Conduct the voice/video interview while inviting all other participants to develop questions and comments in pairs or groups. Share the top questions via the chat function to “all” when the interview is complete.

String together with User Experience Fishbowl, Open Space, DAD, and What I Need From You

Examples

For a leader or leaders to help launch a new initiative

To welcome and get to know a new leader coming into the organization

To personalize and deepen the contributions of an expert

For debriefing the experience of a few participants in an important event

As an alternative to a case-study presentation: the interviewer helps to revive the story and the local context underneath the analysis

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

15% SOLUTIONS

15% Solutions

Discover and Focus on What Each Person Has the Freedom and Resources to Do Now (20 min.)

You cannot cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. – R. Tagore

What is made possible?

You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference. 15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change. With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done and find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring InvitationIn connection with their personal challenge or their group’s challenge, ask, “What is your 15 percent? Where do you have discretion and freedom to act? What can you do without more resources or authority?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials NeededUnlimited number of groups.Chairs for people to sit in groups of 2-4; no tables required.

3. How Participation Is DistributedEveryone is includedEveryone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are ConfiguredFirst aloneThen in pairs or small groups5. Sequence of Steps and Time AllocationFirst alone, each person generates his or her own list of 15% Solutions.

5 min.Individuals share their ideas with a small group (2 to 4 members). 3 min. per person and one person at a timeGroup members provide a consultation to one another (asking clarifying questions and offering advice). 5 to 7 min. per person and one person at a time

WHY? Purposes

Move away from blockage, negativism, and powerlessnessHave people discover their individual and collective powerReveal bottom-up solutionsShare actionable ideas and help one anotherBuild trustRemember unused capacity and resources (15 percent is always there for the taking)Reduce wasteClose the knowing-doing gap

Tips and Traps

Check each item to assure that it is within the discretion of the individual

Be ready for BIG things to emerge via the butterfly effect

Reinventing the wheel is OK

Each 15% Solution adds to understanding of what is possibleClear, common purpose and boundaries will generate coherence among many 15% Solutions

Make it a routine to ask for 15% Solutions in meetings (15% Solutions are otherwise commonly unnoticed and overlooked)While introducing the idea, tell a story about a small change made by an individual that sparked a big result

Learn more from professor Gareth Morgan, who has popularized the concept at www.imaginiz.com/index.html under the tab Provocative Ideas Riffs and Variations

Natural fit with Troika Consulting, Wise Crowds, Open Space, Helping Heuristics, and Integrated~AutonomyReturning to a group, you can ask, “What have you done with your 15 percent lately?”

Examples

For any problem-solving or planning activity in which you want individuals to take initiativeFor inclusion in the conveners report in Open Space sessionsFor any challenge that requires many people to change for success to emerge

For generating small “chunks” of success that can be combined into a simple prototype that is easy and cheap to test (low-fidelity prototype)

Consulting

Get Practical and Imaginative Help from Colleagues Immediately (30 min.)

To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, welcome, to accept. – Henri Nouwen

What is made possible? You can help people gain insight on issues they face and unleash local wisdom for addressing them. In quick round-robin “consultations,” individuals ask for help and get advice immediately from two others. Peer-to-peer coaching helps with discovering everyday solutions, revealing patterns, and refining prototypes. This is a simple and effective way to extend coaching support for individuals beyond formal reporting relationships. Troika Consulting is always there for the asking for any individual who wishes to get help from colleagues or friends.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite the group to explore the questions “What is your challenge?” and “What kind of help do you need?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Any number of small groups of 3 chairs, knee-to-knee seating preferred. No table!

3. How Participation Is Distributed

In each round, one participant is the “client,” the others “consultants”

Everyone has an equal opportunity to receive and give coaching

4. How Groups Are Configured

Groups of 3

People with diverse backgrounds and perspectives are most helpful

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Invite participants to reflect on the consulting question (the challenge and the help needed) they plan to ask when they are the clients. 1 min.

Client turns around and shares what was most valuable about the experience. 1-2 min.

Groups switch to next person and repeat steps.

WHY? Purposes

Refine skills in asking for help

Learn to formulate problems and challenges clearly

Refine listening and consulting skills

Develop ability to work across disciplines and functional silos

Build trust within a group through mutual support

Build capacity to self-organize

Create conditions for unimagined solutions to emerge

Tips and Traps

Invite participants to form groups with mixed roles/functions

Suggest that participants critique themselves when they fall into traps (e.g., like jumping to conclusions)

Have the participants try to notice the pattern of support offered. The ideal is to respectfully provoke by telling the client “what you see that you think they do not see”

Tell participants to take risks while maintaining empathy

If the first round yields coaching that is not good enough, do a second round

Beware that two rounds of 10 minutes per client is more effective than one round of 20 minutes per client.

Keep the spaces safe: if you share anything, do it judiciously

Questions that spark self-understanding or self-correction may be more powerful than advice about what to do

Tell clients to try and stay focused on self-reflection by asking, “What is happening here? How am I experiencing what is happening?”

Make Troika Consulting routine in meetings and conference

Riffs and Variations

Meld with 15% Solutions: each client shares a 15% Solution, asking for coaching

Inviting the client to turn around and sit facing away from his or her consultants once the question has been shared and clarified deepens curiosity, listening, empathy, and risk taking for all. The alternative of not turning around is an option.

Restrict the coaching to generating only questions to clarify the challenge: no advice giving (aka Q-Storming)

Examples

After a presentation, for giving participants time to formulate and sift next steps

For students to help one another and to promote peer-to-peer learning

In the midst of conferences and large-group meetings

As a self-initiated practice within a group

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

OPEN SPACE TECHNOLOGY

Open Space Technology

Liberate Inherent Action and Leadership in Groups of Any Size (90 min. and up to 3 days)

What is made possible?

When people must tackle a common complex challenge, you can release their inherent creativity and leadership as well as their capacity to self-organize. Open Space makes it possible to include everybody in constructing agendas and addressing issues that are important to them. Having co-created the agenda and free to follow their passion, people will take responsibility very quickly for solving problems and moving into action. Letting go of central control (i.e., the agenda and assignments) and putting it in the hands of all the participants generates commitment, action, innovation, and follow-through. You can use Open Space with groups as large as a couple of thousand people!

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite people to come and address a complex problem

Invite participants to co-construct the agenda by posting sessions that they will convene on topics they are passionate about

Invite participants to join any session that they care about

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Chairs in concentric circles for 10–1,000 people in a large room or open space

Microphones needed for groups larger than 40

Large blank agenda posted on easels and flip charts, long tapestry paper, or whiteboard

Agenda to include slots for enough concurrent sessions to accommodate what is likely to emerge given the challenge and the number of participants. (One rule of thumb is that 3 out of 10 participants will post a session, e.g., there will be 15 sessions posted from 50 participants.)

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone who cares about the challenge at hand and accepts the organizers’ invitation is included

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

The “Law of Two Feet” governs the participation of all attendees in the various sessions. It says: “Go and attend whichever session you want, but if you find yourself in a session where you are not learning or contributing, use your two feet!”

4. How Groups Are Configured

Start together in one large circle (or as many concentric circles as needed)

Continue with groups of various sizes self-organized around agenda topics

WHY? Purposes

Make sure that ALL of the issues that are most important to the participants are raised, included in the agenda, and addressed

Make it possible for participants to take responsibility for tackling the issues that they care about and for what does or doesn’t happen

Tips and Traps

To get started, we recommend reading Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide by the founder of Open Space, Harrison Owen. All the elements to try Open Space for the first time are included and described very clearly.

A compelling challenge and attractive invitation are key requirements.

Write up the entire proceedings in a single document, completed and distributed/shared immediately during the meeting.

The facilitator should introduce the Law of Two Feet, Four Principles, and the mechanics of Open Space in a seriously entertaining fashion.

As the facilitator, notice when you form a judgment (about what is right or wrong) or an idea about how you can help, then “let it go”: do one less thing!

A meeting without the Law of Two Feet—namely, one where the agenda is created by the participants but people are not free to attend the session of their choice—is NOT Open Space!

Riffs and Variations

Reopen the Marketplace a second time each morning (bigger collaborations may emerge)

String together with Celebrity Interview, Appreciative Interviews, and/or TRIZ before you start Open Space and with 25/10 Crowd Sourcing after closing.

Other forms of Open Space are called unconferences and BarCamps.

Examples

For management meetings of all stripes

Read “Turning a Business Around” in Part Three: Stories from the Field. Alison Joslyn launched a business transformation by inviting all employees to a three-day Open Space meeting.

Read “Inventing Future Health-Care Practice” in Part Three. Chris McCarthy uses Open Space to set direction for collaboration among the creative members of the Innovation Learning Network.

Immediately after a merger, for bringing together all the employees of both companies to shape next steps and take action together.

To share IT innovation prototypes and unleash collaborative action among widely distributed grantees.

Attribution: Invented by Harrison Owen (see Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide). Short form developed to fit in Liberating Structures milieu by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

WHAT W3

What, So What, Now What? W³

Together, Look Back on Progress to Date and Decide What Adjustments Are Needed (45 min.)

What is made possible? You can help groups reflect on a shared experience in a way that builds understanding and spurs coordinated action while avoiding unproductive conflict. It is possible for every voice to be heard while simultaneously sifting for insights and shaping new direction. Progressing in stages makes this practical—from collecting facts about What Happened to making sense of these facts with So What and finally to what actions logically follow with Now What. The shared progression eliminates most of the misunderstandings that otherwise fuel disagreements about what to do. Voila!

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

After a shared experience, ask, “WHAT? What happened? What did you notice, what facts or observations stood out?” Then, after all the salient observations have been collected, ask, “SO WHAT? Why is that important? What patterns or conclusions are emerging? What hypotheses can you make?” Then, after the sense making is over, ask, “NOW WHAT? What actions make sense?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Unlimited number of groups

Chairs for people to sit in small groups of 5-7; small tables are optional

Paper to make lists

Flip chart may be needed with a large group to collect answers

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone is included

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute at each table

4. How Groups Are Configured

Individuals

Groups of 5-7

Whole group

Groups can be established teams or mixed groups

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

If needed, describe the sequence of steps and show the Ladder of Inference (see below). If the group is 10–12 people or smaller, conduct the debrief with the whole group. Otherwise, break the group into small groups.

First stage: WHAT? Individuals work 1 min. alone on “What happened? What did you notice, what facts or observations stood out?” then 2–7 min. in small group. 3–8 min. total.

Salient facts from small groups are shared with the whole group and collected. 2–3 min.

If needed, remind participants about what is included in the SO WHAT? question.

Second stage: SO WHAT? People work 1 min alone on “Why is that important? What patterns or conclusions are emerging? What hypotheses can I/we make?” then 2–7 min. in small group. 3–8 min. total.

Salient patterns, hypotheses, and conclusions from small groups are shared with the whole group and collected. 2–5 min.

Third stage: NOW WHAT? Participants work 1 min. alone on “Now what? What actions make sense?” then 2–7 min. in small group. 3–8 min. total.

Actions are shared with the whole group, discussed, and collected. Additional insights are invited. 2–10 min.

WHY? Purposes

Build shared understanding of how people develop different perspectives, ideas, and rationales for actions and decisions

Make sure that learning is generated from shared experiences: no feedback = no learning

Avoid repeating the same mistakes or dysfunctions over and over

Avoid arguments about actions based on lack of clarity about facts or their interpretation

Eliminate the tendency to jump prematurely to action, leaving people behind

Get all the data and observations out on the table first thing for everyone to start on the same page

Honor the history and the novelty of what is unfolding

Build trust and reduce fear by learning together at each step of a shared experience

Make sense of complex challenges in a way that unleashes action

Experience how questions are more powerful than answers because they invite active exploration

Tips and Traps

Practice, practice, practice … then What, So What, Now What? will feel like breathing

Check with small groups to clarify appropriate answers to each question (some groups get confused about what fits in each category) and share examples of answers with the whole group if needed

Intervene quickly and clearly when someone jumps up the Ladder of Inference

Appreciate candid feedback and recognize it

Build in time for the debrief—don’t trivialize it, don’t rush it

Make it the norm to debrief with W3, however quickly, at the end of everything

Riffs and Variations

For the What? question, spend time sifting items that arise into three categories: facts with evidence, shared observations, and opinions

Add a What If? question between So What? and Now What?

For the So What? Question, sift items into patterns, conclusions, hypotheses/educated guesses, beliefs

Examples

For drawing out the history and meaning of the events prior to your gathering, start a meeting with W³

For debriefing any meeting topic that generates complex or controversial responses

For groups with people who have strong opinions or individuals who dominate the conversation

For groups with people who have difficulty listening to others with different backgrounds

For use in place of a leader “telling” people what to think, what conclusions to draw, or what actions to take (often unintentionally)

As a standard discipline at the end of all meetings

Right after a shocking event

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Chris Argyris introduced the “Ladder of Inference” in Reasoning, Learning, and Action: Individual and Organizational (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1982). Peter Senge popularized it in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (New York: Doubleday, 1990).

HELPING HEURISTICS

Helping Heuristics

Practice Progressive Methods for Helping Others, Receiving Help and Asking for Help (15 min.)

You cannot help a man permanently by doing for them something they could and should do for themselves. – Abraham Lincoln

What is made possible?

Participants can gain insight into their own pattern of interaction and habits. Helping Heuristics make it possible for them to experience how they can choose to change how they work with others by using a progression of practical methods. Heuristics are shortcuts that help people identify what is important when entering a new situation. They help them develop deeper insight into their own interaction patterns and make smarter decisions quickly. A series of short exchanges reveals heuristics or simple rules of thumb for productive helping. Try them out!

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite participants to view all human interactions as offers that are either accepted or blocked (e.g., Improv artists are trained to accept all offers)

Ask them to act, react, or observe four patterns of interaction

Invite them to reflect on their patterns as well as to consider shifting how they ask, offer, and receive help

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Any number of participants, standing

No tables in the way of people standing face-to-face!

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone has an equal opportunity to learn and to contribute

Participants switch into one of three possible roles as the activity progresses

4. How Groups Are Configured

Groups of 3: two participants interacting face-to-face in the roles of client and coach plus one observer

Whole group for the debrief

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Explain that there will be four rounds of 1–2-minute improvised interactions. Groups choose one member to be a “client,” another a “coach,” with the third acting as “observer.” Roles can stay the same or change from round to round. The fourth round will be followed by 5 minutes of debrief. 2 min.

During every round the person in the role of client shares a challenge he or she is passionate about. While the observer pays close attention, the coach responds in a sequence of patterns that is different for each round as follows.

During the first round, the response pattern is “Quiet Presence”: the coach accepts all offers with compassionate listening [see the Liberating Structure Heard, Seen, Respected (HSR)]. 2 min.

During the second round, the response pattern is “Guided Discovery”: the coach accepts all offers, guiding inquiry for mutual discoveries (see the Liberating Structure Appreciative Interview). 2 min.

During the third round, the response pattern is “Loving Provocation”: the coach interjects advice, accepting and blocking as needed when the coach sees something that the client does not see (see the Liberating Structure Troika Consulting). 2 min.

During the fourth round, the response pattern is “Process Mindfulness”: the coach and client accept all offers from each other, working at the top of their intelligence while noticing how novel possibilities are amplified. 2 min.

Debrief the impact of all four helping patterns as experienced by clients, coaches, and observers. 5 min.

Based on the debrief, repeat all rounds or only some for all participants to practice various response patterns.

WHY? Purposes

Reduce/eliminate common errors and traps when people are giving or asking for help

Change unwanted giving help patterns that include: premature solutions; unneeded advice; adding pressure to force use of advice; moving to next steps too quickly; trying too hard not to overhelp

Change unwanted asking for help patterns that include: mistrusting; not sharing real problem; accepting help without ownership; looking for validation, not help; resenting not getting enough

Tips and Traps

Encourage people to change roles in each round

Develop trust, inquire humbly, create climate of mutual discovery

Focus on patterns that will help the client finding his or her own solutions (self-discovery in a group)

ECOCYCLE PLANNING

Ecocycle Planning

Analyze the Full Portfolio of Activities and Relationships to Identify Obstacles and Opportunities for Progress (95 min.) What is made possible? You can eliminate or mitigate common bottlenecks that stifle performance by sifting your group’s portfolio of activities, identifying which elements are starving for resources and which ones are rigid and hampering progress. The Ecocycle makes it possible to sift, prioritize, and plan actions with everyone involved in the activities at the same time, as opposed to the conventional way of doing it behind closed doors with a small group of people. Additionally, the Ecocycle helps everyone see the forest AND the trees—they see where their activities fit in the larger context with others. Ecocycle Planning invites leaders to focus also on creative destruction and renewal in addition to typical themes regarding growth or efficiency. The Ecocycle makes it possible to spur agility, resilience, and sustained performance by including all four phases of development in the planning process.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite the group to view, organize, and prioritize current activities using four developmental phases: birth, maturity, creative destruction, and renewal

Invite the group to formulate action steps linked to each phase: actions that accelerate growth during the birth phase, actions that extend life or increase efficiency during the maturity phase, actions that prune dead wood or compost rigid practices during the creative destruction phase, actions that connect creative people or prepare the ground for birth during the renewal phase. The leadership stance required for each phase can be characterized as entrepreneur, manager, heretic, and networker.

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

A room with an open flat wall and open space for participants to stand comfortably in front of the wall

Chairs for people to sit in groups of 4, with or without small round tables

A blank Ecocycle map worksheet for each participant and a large wall-poster version posted on the wall

Post-it notes for each activity

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everybody involved in the work is included, all levels and functions

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

1-2-4-All

Small groups for action steps

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Introduce the idea of the Ecocycle and hand out a blank map to each participant. 5 min.

Ask participants to generate their individual activity lists: “For your working group (e.g., department, function, or whole company), make a list of all the activities (projects, initiatives) that occupy your time.” 5 min.

Ask them to work in pairs to decide the placement of every activity in the Ecocycle. 10 min.

Invite them to form groups of four and finalize the placement of activities on the Ecocycle map. 15 min.

Ask each group to put its activities on Post-it notes and create a whole-room map by inviting the groups one by one to place their Post-its on the larger map. 15 min.

Ask each group to step back and digest the pattern of placements. Ask them to focus on all the activities on which there is consensus about their placement. Ask, “What activities do we need to creatively destroy or stop to move forward? What activities do we need to expand or start to move forward?” 15 min.

In small groups, for each activity that needs to be stopped (activities that are in the Rigidity Trap), create a first-action step. 10 min. or more depending on the number of activities and groups.

In small groups, for each activity that needs to start or get more resources (activities in the Poverty trap), create a first-action step. 10 min. or more as above.

Ask all the groups to focus on all the activities for which there is no consensus. Do a quick round of conversation to make sense of the differences in placement. When possible, create first-action steps to handle each one. 10 min.

WHY? Purposes

Set priorities

Balance a portfolio of strategies

Identify waste and opportunities to free up resources

Bring and hear all perspectives at once

Create resilience and absorb disruptions by reorganizing programs together

Tips and Traps

Remind participants that all phases of the Ecocycle must be parts of a healthy organization

Be very clear on the domain or type of activities being considered—check activities to be sure they are on a similar scale and domain

Include views from inside and outside the organization or function (diverse participants and clients can help)

Preparations and explicit criteria for each quadrant may help or interfere

Don’t hesitate to do a second round

Identifying the Rigidity and Poverty Traps, plus connecting specific activities with these labels, launches the search for solutions

Learn more from professor Brenda Zimmerman at Change-Ability and see the excerpt from her book Edgeware under the tab Publications

Riffs and Variations

Ask participants to make a list of all their important relationships with internal and external customers/suppliers (in addition to their activities) and to place them on the Ecocycle. Ask them to evaluate the relationships with the same questions used for the activities and to include them in the last four steps of the Ecocycle planning process. Highly recommended!

String together with Panarchy, 1-2-4-All, WINFY, and Open Space

TRIZ can help to deepen the Creative Destruction quadrant

Use with virtual groups by inviting participants to place their Ecocycle assessments with a dot on the whiteboard, then chat in pairs and with the whole group about the pattern that emerges. Before you enter into full-group placements, use silence and paired chat (1-2-All) to build understanding. You will need to agree on a short common list of activities or relationships to help simplify mapping. Number or letter each item and invite placements one by one. Sift and sort answers with a whiteboard and a person playing a “synthesizer” role. Don’t worry about perfection in the first rounds. Virtual sessions can deepen or complement face-to-face exchanges.

What, So What, Now What? and 25/10 Crowd Sourcing can help spur action

Examples

For service portfolio review with an information technology department

For nursing executives and academics transforming their approach to education (evaluating the history as well as proposed change initiatives)

For planning changes in an individual’s personal life, sifting through activities and shaping next steps

For accelerating performance of an executive team in the midst of integrating a newly acquired company (sifting through a mixture of two product lines and research opportunities)

HEARD, SEEN, RESPECTED

Heard, Seen, Respected

Empathy removes the blocks to action in a way that is inclusive. It creates power through partnership and cocreation, resolving what appears to be knotted and bound. – Dominic Barter

What is made possible?

You can foster the empathetic capacity of participants to “walk in the shoes” of others. Many situations do not have immediate answers or clear resolutions. Recognizing these situations and responding with empathy can improve the “cultural climate” and build trust among group members. HSR helps individuals learn to respond in ways that do not overpromise or overcontrol. It helps members of a group notice unwanted patterns and work together on shifting to more productive interactions. Participants experience the practice of more compassion and the benefits it engenders.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite participants to tell a story to a partner about a time when they felt that they were not heard, seen, or respected.

Ask the listeners to avoid any interruptions other than asking questions like “What else?” or “What happened next?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Chairs facing each other, a few inches between knees

No tables

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone has an equal amount of time, in turn, to participate in each role, as a storyteller and a listener

4. How Groups Are Configured

In pairs for the storytelling

Then foursomes for reflecting on what happened

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Introduce the purpose of HSR: to practice listening without trying to fix anything or make any judgments. 3 min.

WHY? Purposes

Reveal how common it is for people to experience not being heard, seen, or respected

Reveal how common it is for people to behave in a way that makes other people feel they are not being heard, seen, or respected

Improve listening, tuning, and empathy among group members

Notice how much can be accomplished simply by listening

Rely on each other more when facing confusing or new situations

Offer catharsis and healing after strains in relationships

Help managers discern when listening is more effective than trying to solve a problem

Tips and Traps (for introducing HSR)

Riffs and Variations

If you are feeling brave, replace the word “respected” with “loved” (i.e., the agape form of love—seeking the highest good in others without motive for personal gain.)

IMPROMPTU NETWORKING

Impromptu Networking

You can tap a deep well of curiosity and talent by helping a group focus attention on problems they want to solve. A productive pattern of engagement is established if used at the beginning of a working session. Loose yet powerful connections are formed in 20 minutes by asking engaging questions. Everyone contributes to shaping the work, noticing patterns together, and discovering local solutions.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Ask, “What big challenge do you bring to this gathering? What do you hope to get from and give this group or community?”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Open space without obstructions so participants can stand in pairs and mill about to find partners

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everybody at once with the same amount of time (no limit on group size)

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

Pairs

Invite people to find strangers or colleagues in groups/functions different from their own

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

In each round, 2 minutes per person to answer the questions. 4-5 min. per round

Three rounds

WHY? Purposes

Initiate participation immediately for everyone provided the questions are engaging

Attract deeper engagement around challenges

Invite stories to deepen as they are repeated

Help shy people warm up

Affirm individual contributions to solutions

Emphasize the power of loose and new connections

Suggest that little things can make a big difference

Tips and Traps

Use one challenge question and one give-and-take question

Ask questions that invite participants to shape the direction of their work together

Use Impromptu Networking before you begin meetings and conferences

Use bells (e.g., tingsha) to help you shift participants from first, to second, to third rounds

Ask questions that are open-ended but not too broad

Invite serious play

Have three rounds, not one or two

If you choose to share output, do it carefully and preserve confidentiality

Riffs and Variations

Play with different questions: What problem are you trying to solve? What challenge lingers from our last meeting? What hunch are you trying to confirm?

Taking a group outside a meeting room increases the fun factor

Link to Social Network Webbing

Invite participants to make a simple plan to follow up via 15% Solutions

Make it faster depending on your schedule

Try a lively variation called Liquid Courage (developed by Jamie Owens – Founder of More Than An Option, Inc. and Keith McCandless). Invite each person, in their pair, to finish these open sentences in 1 minute or less: If only…. They make me… I have to… … that’s just the way it is. If they would ____ then I could ______!

Examples

For sparking deeper connections on the first day of class, college professors have asked their students, “Why did you choose to attend this class? What do you want to learn from and offer to members of this class?”

For jump-starting a cross-functional, interdisciplinary learning session, Tim Jaasko-Fisher used Impromptu Networking with judges, lawyers, clerks, and social workers. See “Fixing a Broken Child Welfare System” in Part Three: Stories from the Field.

For connecting far-flung innovators and disparate prototypes among members of the Innovation Learning Network. See “Inventing Future Health-Care Practice” in Part Three: Stories from the Field.

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Inspired by June Holley, network weaver.

PURPOSE TO PRACTICE

Purpose-To-Practice (P2P)

Design the Five Essential Elements for a Resilient and Enduring Initiative (2 hrs.)

Very real crises mark our time. And as much as we might like it otherwise, it appears that doing what we have always done, only harder, will not solve them. – Charles Johnston

What is made possible? By using P2P at the start of an initiative, the stakeholders can shape together all the elements that will determine the success of their initiative. The group begins by generating a shared purpose (i.e., why the work is important to each participant and the larger community). All additional elements—principles, participants, structure, and practices—are designed to help achieve the purpose. By shaping these five elements together, participants clarify how they can organize themselves to adapt creatively and scale up for success. For big initiatives, P2P makes it possible to include a large number of stakeholders in shaping their future initiative.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite all or most stakeholders to participate in the design of their new initiative in order to specify its five essential elements: purpose, principles, participants, structure, and practices.

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Chairs and small tables for people to work in groups of 4

A large wall with poster paper for recording the P2P result for each element

For each participant five worksheets, one for each of the five elements

3. How Participation Is Distributed

All individuals who have a stake in launching the initiative are included

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

1-2-4-All

Whole group for finalizing each element

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

To clarify the first element, Purpose, ask the question: “Why is the work important to you and the larger community?”

Principles: “What rules must we absolutely obey to succeed in achieving our purpose?”

Participants: “Who can contribute to achieving our purpose and must be included?”

Structure: “How must we organize (both macro- and microstructures) and distribute control to achieve our purpose?”

Practices: “What are we going to do? What will we offer to our users/clients and how will we do it?”

WHY? Purposes

Avoid “design” by a small group of people or experts-only behind closed doors

Pull together all the elements needed to launch and sustain an effort, thereby avoiding a fragmented process

Develop innovative strategies that can be implemented and spread quickly because there is shared ownership

Increase resilience and the ability to absorb disruptions by distributing power fairly

Build the capacity to rapidly adapt any of the elements to changing circumstances

Tips and Traps

Crafting a powerful, wildly attractive “purpose” is the most important step: you may want to use Nine Whys, Appreciative Interviews, or TRIZ to deepen the conversation

A purpose may be expressed as something positive you are going to start/create or something negative you are going to stop

Work in quick cycles, failing forward iteratively

Multiple sessions spread out over weeks or even months may be required

“Structure” usually is the element that requires the most imagination and leaps away from top-down to more distributed control. Using metaphors (e.g., how can we structure ourselves like a spider plant?) and visual representations can help draw out creative designs.

Principles: Must dos and must not dos often come from hard lessons learned in the field (positive and negative)

Rely on small groups to do the heavy lifting, and keep it moving

Keep rounds on schedule and when more time is needed, do two rounds

Rely on and draw out the inspiring-and-despairing experience of group members

Invite the participants to use their intuition as the process unfolds

Riffs and Variations

Start with one 30-minute, very rapid cycle covering all five elements to illustrate the need for a strong and clear purpose: without one, it is easy to come up with a half-baked design

Graphic recording helps to hold attention and focus through the rigorous design process

You can add questions to enrich the conversation about Practices: What is happening around us that creates an opportunity? What is at stake if we do not take a risk? Where are we starting, honestly?

When integrating all five elements for a project is too much, just do the one or two design elements that seem most important

Use the five P2P questions routinely as an easy checklist for small projects

Use with virtual groups by inviting participants to answer the five questions via a chat version of 1-2-All. Sift and sort answers with a whiteboard and a person playing a “synthesizer” role. Don’t worry about perfection in the first rounds. Virtual rounds can deepen or complement face-to-face exchanges.

Use P2P to structure a much longer design session (e.g., a planning or strategy retreat)

Examples

By the leaders of the Conversation Café dialogue movement

The Quality Commons, a group of researchers from eight health systems, used P2P to successfully create their consortium

Going through the first stage of the P2P, a management team discovered a much deeper purpose than it expected. The new purpose and shared experience inspired the team to rethink its business model.

To guide the launch of LS user groups

By the Latin American region of a corporation to launch a new customer-focused business strategy

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

A TO C MATRIX

Agreement-&-Certainty Matrix

If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask…. – Albert Einstein

What is made possible? You can help individuals or groups avoid the frequent mistake of trying to solve a problem with methods that are not adapted to the nature of their challenge. The combination of two questions makes it possible to easily sort challenges into four categories: simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic. A problem is simple when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate. It is complicated when experts are required to devise a sophisticated solution that will yield the desired results predictably. A problem is complex when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail. Chaotic is when the context is too turbulent to identify a path forward. A loose analogy may be used to describe these differences: simple is like following a recipe, complicated like sending a rocket to the moon, complex like raising a child, and chaotic is like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” The Liberating Structures Matching Matrix in Chapter 5 can be used as the first step to clarify the nature of a challenge and avoid the mismatches between problems and solutions that are frequently at the root of chronic, recurring problems.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite participants to categorize their current challenges as simple, complicated, complex, or chaotic

Ask them to place every challenge in the matrix based on their answers to two questions: What is the degree of agreement among the participants regarding the challenge and the best way to address it? What is the degree of certainty and predictability about what results will be generated from the solutions proposed for addressing the challenge?

Ask them to think about the approaches they are using or considering to address each challenge, evaluate how well these fit, and determine where there are mismatches

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Chairs for people to sit in groups of 4–6, with or without small round tables

Long open wall with a large tapestry paper illustration of the matrix taped to the wall

One page with a blank matrix for every participant

Post-it notes and markers for everybody

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone involved in the work team or unit under discussion (not only leaders)

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

Individually to make initial assessments

Small groups of 4 to 6

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Ask participants to individually generate the list of challenges that take up their time. 5 min.

Still working individually, participants place challenges in their individual matrixes. 5 min.

Ask participants to discuss in pairs. 5 min.

Invite them to chat with others in a group of 4–6 to find points of agreement, difference, and where there are mismatches. 10 min.

Invite everyone to post their challenges on the large wall matrix. 5 min.

Ask participants to form small groups and step back to reflect on, “What pattern do we see? Do any mismatches stand out that we should address?” 5 min.

Invite whole group to share reflections and decide next steps. 10 min.

WHY? Purposes

Reduce wasted effort by matching challenges with methods

Identify where local experiments may help solve larger problems

Make visible to everyone the range and the nature of the challenges facing people in the organization

Reduce the frustration of people not making progress on key challenges by identifying mismatches

Share perspectives across functions and levels of the organization

Tips and Traps

Clarify what type of challenges and activities are being included

Work up from the individual, then into pair and table conversations

Avoid making judgments about where people put their activities

Explore items that fall into more than one sector by asking, “Does this challenge have multiple dynamics at play? How is it simultaneously simple and complex?”

Learn more from professor Brenda Zimmerman @ Change-Ability

Riffs and Variations

Ask, “Where are there mismatches in your approach; what countermeasures make sense?”

Create a table that captures the mismatches and any action steps that will be taken

Use the same approach for a single issue people are facing in their work

GENERATIVE RELATIONSHIPS

Generative Relationships STAR

What is made possible? You can help a group of people understand how they work together and identify changes that they can make to improve group performance. All members of the group diagnose current relationship patterns and decide how to follow up with action steps together, without intermediaries. The STAR compass tool helps group members understand what makes their relationships more or less generative. The compass used in the initial diagnosis can also be used later to evaluate progress in developing relationships that are more generative.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite participants to assess their working group or team in terms of four attributes:

S Separateness: the amount of diversity in perspective, expertise, and background among group members

T Tuning: the level of listening deeply, reflecting, and making sense of challenges together

A Action: the number of opportunities to act on ideas or innovate with group members

R Reason to work together: the benefits that are gained from working together

Invite them to jointly shape action steps to boost generative results

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Tables for small groups of 4, with a STAR compass graphic and pens for each individual

A STAR compass graphic on a flip-chart page for each small group

A STAR compass graphic on a flip-chart page for the whole group

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone in a working group or team is included

Everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

Individually to make initial assessments

Small groups

Whole group

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Participants individually assess where the team is in regard to each of the four elements (5 mins.):

S How diverse are we as a group? Do we draw out our diverse perspectives among members?

T How well are we in tune with one another?

A How much do we act together?

R How important is it that we work together? How clear is our purpose?

In small groups, participants place a dot along each compass point, then talk with their neighbors (1-2-4) about their placements, looking for consensus and differences. 5 min.

Small groups decide what type of results are generated by the pattern of interaction they have identified (e.g., high Tuning + no Action = we get along well but accomplish little, high Action + low Tuning = routine results with no innovation, high Tuning + high Separateness + high Action + low Reason = many false starts, etc.). 5 min.

Use with virtual groups by inviting participants to place their STAR assessments with a dot on the chart on the whiteboard, then chat in pairs and with the whole group about the pattern that emerges. You may want to create a “synthesizer” role to help keep things moving. Generate action steps via a chat version of 1-2-All.

Examples

For a strategy retreat, focusing attention on group dynamics and results

For deciding the composition and purpose of a new team or task force to be formed

For two people to use in mending their relationship

Attribution: Developed by professor Brenda Zimmerman (learn more from Professor Zimmerman at Change-Ability). Adapted by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

DESIGN STORYBOARDS

Design StoryBoards – Basic

What is made possible? The most common causes of dysfunctional meetings can be eliminated: unclear purpose or lack of a common one, time wasters, restrictive participation, absent voices, groupthink, and frustrated participants.

The process of designing a storyboard draws out a purpose that becomes clearer as it is matched with congruent microstructures. It reveals who needs to be included for successful implementation. Storyboards invite design participants to carefully define all the micro-organizing elements needed to achieve their purpose: a structuring invitation, space, materials, participation, group configurations, and facilitation and time allocations. Storyboards prevent people from starting and running meetings without an explicit design. Good designs yield better-than-expected results by uncovering tacit and latent sources of innovation.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite a design team (a representative subset of the group) to create a detailed plan, including visual cues, for how participants will interact to achieve their purpose

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

An open wall with tapestry paper or flip-chart pages

2-by-4-inch Post-its and/or Liberating Structures Playing Cards

A blank storyboard (see Collateral Material)

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone involved in the design and planning of the meeting has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

1-2-All or 1-All in rapid cycles for each step below

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Clarify the purpose of your work together (use Nine Whys if needed). 2 to 5 min.

Describe the standard approach or microstructure you would normally use for this session (including who is normally present) and assess how it succeeds and fails in achieving the stated purpose. 5 to 10 min.

Reexamine and strengthen the purpose statement if needed. 2 to 5 min.

Reexamine and decide who needs to participate or be involved. 2 to 5 min.

Brainstorm alternative microstructures (both conventional and Liberating Structures) that could achieve the purpose. Determine whether the purpose can be achieved in one step. If not, what must be the purpose of the first step? Continue with first step only. 5 to 10 min.

Determine which microstructures are best suited to achieving the purpose; choose one plus a backup. 2 to 10 min.

Decide who will be invited and who will facilitate the meeting. Enter all your decisions in the blank storyboard. 2 to 10 min.

Determine the questions and process you will use to evaluate your design (e.g., Did the design achieve desired outcomes? Did the group work together in a productive way? Does something new seem possible now? Use What, So What, Now What?) 2 to 5 min.

If multiple steps are needed, confer with the design team and arrange a meeting to work on an Advanced Design StoryBoard (see description below). 5 to 10 min.

WHY? Purposes

Evoke a purpose that is clear for all

Make the work in meetings productive and enjoyable for all

Give everyone a chance to make contributions

Foster synergy among participants

Help everyone find his or her role by making the design process visible

Reveal the weaknesses of the current practice and step up from it

Tap all the sources of knowledge for innovation (explicit, tacit, latent/emergent)

Tips and Traps

Encourage and seriously play with fast iterations; repeat and deepen your design

At a minimum, work in pairs (a second set of eyes and ears really helps) or small groups

Use icons and sketches to quickly develop shared understanding and actionable ideas

Always include a design debrief (What, So What, Now What?)

Don’t skimp on the time necessary to generate a good design. A good design will reduce wasted meeting time by much more than it took to create it. A bad design will generate frustration.

Riffs and Variations

Use the same approach to map ethnographic observations of a current practice

Use a pie chart to illuminate and balance the goals and flow of your design

Examples

For management meetings of all stripes

Project reviews

Classroom sessions

Brainstorming sessions

One-on-one meetings

Planning a learning session for a conference. See “Fixing a Broken Child Welfare System” in Part Three: Stories from the Field.

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless.

DISCOVERY & ACTION

Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD)

Live the questions now and perhaps without knowing it you will live along someday into the answers. – Rainier Maria Rilke

What is made possible? DADs make it easy for a group or community to discover practices and behaviors that enable some individuals (without access to special resources and facing the same constraints) to find better solutions than their peers to common problems. These are called positive deviant (PD) behaviors and practices. DADs make it possible for people in the group, unit, or community to discover by themselves these PD practices. DADs also create favorable conditions for stimulating participants’ creativity in spaces where they can feel safe to invent new and more effective practices. Resistance to change evaporates as participants are unleashed to choose freely which practices they will adopt or try and which problems they will tackle. DADs make it possible to achieve frontline ownership of solutions.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Invite people to uncover tacit or latent solutions to a shared challenge that are hidden among people in their working group, unit, or community. Ask anybody interested in solving the problem to join a small group and participate in a DAD. In the group, ask seven progressive questions:

How do you know when problem X is present?

How do you contribute effectively to solving problem X?

What prevents you from doing this or taking these actions all the time?

Do you know anybody who is able to frequently solve problem X and overcome barriers? What behaviors or practices made their success possible?

Do you have any ideas?

What needs to be done to make it happen? Any volunteers?

Who else needs to be involved?

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

DADs take place in a local setting or unit

Groups may be standing or sitting around a table

Paper, flip chart, or software/projection equipment needed to record insights and actions

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Facilitator introduces the questions

Everyone who is around is invited to join and be included

Everyone in the group has an equal opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

Facilitator works with a partner to serve as a recorder

Group size can be 5–15 people

Diversity in roles and experience is an important asset

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

State the purpose of the initiative being discussed and the DAD and invite brief round-robin introductions. 5 min.

Ask the 7 questions one by one in the order given in the Invitation. Address them to the whole group and give everyone the opportunity to speak to each question. Make sure your recorder captures insights and action ideas as they emerge—big ones may emerge when you least expect it. 15–60 min.

Discover tacit and latent behaviors and practices that are positively deviant from the norm

Spark the emergence of new solutions

Inspire rather than compel behaviors that solve complex problems

Generate changes that are sustained because they are discovered and invented by the people doing the work, rather than imported and imposed

Solve local problems locally and spread momentum across units

Build relationships between people in diverse functions and levels that otherwise don’t work together to solve problems

Tips and Traps

Question #2 often consists of two parts: how the problem affects the individual personally and how it affects others. For instance, “What do you do to protect yourself from infections and what do you do to prevent infection transmissions?” or “What do you do to keep your students engaged and what do you to keep yourself energized and enthusiastic?”

Hold the DADs where the participants work to minimize obstacles for participation

Make impromptu invitations for people to join in as you enter the area

Create an informal “climate,” starting with introductions and an anecdote if appropriate

Maintain eye contact and sit with the group (not higher or away from the group)

Be sure you talk much less than participants, encouraging everyone to share stories and “sift” for action opportunities

Dramatizing Behavior Change to Stop Infections” in Part Three: Stories from the Field

Notice when you form judgments in your head about what is right or wrong, then count to ten and “let it go” before you say anything (you may need to ask for the help of your recorder or a facilitator colleague)

Avoid statements like “that’s a good idea” and leave space for participants to make their own assessments

Don’t judge yourself too harshly: it takes practice to develop a high level of skill with this approach to facilitation. Be sure to ask your recorder for direct feedback.

Riffs and Variations

Use TRIZ-like questions instead of the first three, namely: (1) What can you do to make sure that problem X becomes much worse? (2) Is there anything you are doing that in any way, shape, or form looks like any of the practices you just listed? (3) What is preventing you from stopping these practices?

Use insights and barriers that surface to develop scripts for Improv Prototyping scenes and organize Improv sessions

Use the same sequence and type of questions to guide one-on-one conversations

With virtual groups, use the chat function to share answers to each question, then select powerful stories/behaviors/actions to be vocalized with the whole group

Examples

For reducing harm to patients experiencing safety lapses (e.g., wrong-side surgery, patient falls, medication errors, iatrogenic infections) with cross-functional groups. Video of a DAD in progress to reduce the transmission of infections from UHN in Toronto.

For use as an ethnographic data-collection tool within a multi-site research project

For a series of local dialogues to help community members discover solutions to a chronic problem (e.g., disruptive children in a classroom, a cycle of violence that is not solved only by punishing offenders)

For researching and unleashing action to build professional competencies (e.g., in medical schools and social-service agencies). See “Developing Competencies for Physician Education” in Part Three: Stories from the Field.

For use in a one-on-one conversation to find approaches to a tough challenge

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless

APPRECIATIVE INTERVIEWS

Appreciative Interviews (AI)

Discovering and Building on the Root Causes of Success (1 hr.)

What is made possible? In less than one hour, a group of any size can generate the list of conditions that are essential for its success. You can liberate spontaneous momentum and insights for positive change from within the organization as “hidden” success stories are revealed. Positive movement is sparked by the search for what works now and by uncovering the root causes that make success possible. Groups are energized while sharing their success stories instead of the usual depressing talk about problems. Stories from the field offer social proof of local solutions, promising prototypes, and spread innovations while providing data for recognizing success patterns. You can overcome the tendency of organizations to underinvest in social supports that generate success while overemphasizing financial support, time, and technical assistance.

Five Structural Elements – Min Specs

1. Structuring Invitation

Ask, “Please tell a story about a time when you worked on a challenge with others and you are proud of what you accomplished. What is the story and what made the success possible? Pair up preferably with someone you don’t know well.”

2. How Space Is Arranged and Materials Needed

Unlimited number of groups

Chairs for people to sit in pairs face-to-face; no tables needed.

Paper for participants to take notes

Flip chart to record the stories and assets/conditions

3. How Participation Is Distributed

Everyone is included

Everyone has equal time and opportunity to contribute

4. How Groups Are Configured

First pairs, then groups of 4.

Encourage groups to be diverse

5. Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation

Describe the sequence of steps and specify a theme or what kind of story participants are expected to tell. 3 min.

In pairs, participants take turns conducting an interview and telling a success story, paying attention to what made the success possible. 7–10 min. each; 15–20 min. total.

In groups of 4, each person retells the story of his or her pair partner. Ask participants to listen for patterns in conditions/assets supporting success and to make note of them. 15 min. for groups of 4.

Collect insights and patterns for the whole group to see on a flip chart. Summarize if needed. 10-15 min.

Ask, “How are we investing in the assets and conditions that foster success?” and “What opportunities do you see to do more?” Use 1-2-4-All to discuss the questions. 10 min.

WHY? Purposes

Generate constructive energy by starting on a positive note.

Capture and spread tacit knowledge about successful field experience.

Reveal the path for achieving success for an entire group simultaneously

By expecting positive behaviors, you can bring them forth (Pygmalion effect)

Spark peer-to-peer learning, mutual respect, and community building.

Give permission to explore complex or messy challenges

Create a new exciting group narrative, e.g., “how we are making order out of chaos!”

Repeating interviews in rapid cycles may point to positively deviant local innovations

Tips and Traps

Flip malaise and negative themes to “When is it that we have succeeded, even in a modest way?”

Start with, “Tell me a story about a time when….”

Ask people to give a title to their partner’s story

Invite additional paired interviews before building up to patterns

Invite participants to notice when they form a judgment (about what is right or wrong) or an idea about how they can help, then to “let it go”

Make the stories and patterns visible to everyone

Learn more from Appreciative Inquiry practitioners at http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/

Riffs and Variations

Graphically record story titles and conditions/assets on a large wall tapestry

Write up and publicize a few of the most inspiring stories

Draw out stories that help participants make a leap of understanding from a small example of behavior change to a broad change in values or a shift in resources allocation–or both! Offer an example.

Track how the stories start to fill in and bring life to the group’s vision

Groups of eight instead of four are an option

Follow with Min Specs, exploring the must dos and must not dos required for future success

Examples

For bringing customer focus to life with “stories when you had a creative and positive interaction with a customer”

For revising college courses with “stories when a course or learning experience had a profound influence on your life”

For repairing a relationship between a patient and a doctor with “stories when you were able to accept openly responsibility for making a medical error”

For building trust and morale in an NGO with “stories when you experienced here in the office the esprit de corps of work in the field. What made that possible?”

For looking beyond the launch of a transformation initiative with “stories of first successes in the field that can guide our strategy for the next two years”

Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Inspired by and adapted from professor David Cooperrider, Case Western Reserve University, and consultant Dr. Tony Suchman.

Case Studies

Our work includes large scale projects, team interventions and more. Click below for samples of recent projects.